Misunderstood
by Me Myself and Kisame
Summary: Word spreads fast when Naruto plays a joke saying that Lee died in a snow storm. The rumor spreads and eventually reaches the Kazekage who takes every word of it for truth. Throwing caution to the wind, Gaara take off with little to no preparation in hopes of saving his green garbed friend who he holds a special place in his heart for.


_~AN:This is the first LeeGaa story that I've ever wrote, and I'm pretty proud of it. This pairing is so cute :) I hope that you guys like it. If you see any issues with the story, please feel free to tell me.~_

"What is the meaning of this?" Tsunade boomed loudly with anger. The floor and table shook as she slammed a newspaper article down against the table for all present to see.  
The article, which was the center of attention, read "Young Konoha ninja, Rock Lee, missing in snow storm, his whereabouts are unknown. Presumed dead."  
Team Gai stood at Tsunade's side, looking at the newspaper in question.  
"Well?" She snapped, fixing her gaze on the orange clad ninja in front of her desk.  
Naruto cringed at the elder's shear volume and force. He laughed nervously, "H-heh, well, it was a joke." Naruto explained while rubbing the back of his head. "Take it easy." Naruto said bringing his arms up in defense.  
"This is not a joke!" Tsunade scolded. Tsunade paused for a moment and looked at the cringing ninja. She heaved a heavy sigh and ran her hand through her hair.  
"I know I may be overreacting. I know Lee is ok, but don't joke about that sort of thing, ok?" Tsunade said more than asked.  
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto said scratching the back of his head. Naruto looked over to team Gai, especially Lee, "I'm sorry about that, Lee." Naruto sighed.  
"That is ok." Lee replied, "It sure made my morning more exciting!"  
A sigh was heard from Neji, "Yes, mine as well." Neji said pinching the bridge of his nose.  
"Mine too." Tenten sighed.  
Neji and Tenten both looked to their sensei at the same time with an annoyed look. Gai still had glistening eyes and sniffed from time to time.  
The teary-eyed sensei looked to his pupils and gasped "What!? I was worried about Lee!" he cried in his defense.  
"How did you even get your hands on that fake article at _five_ in the morning?" Neji asked incredulously.  
"It doesn't matter how!" Gai declared, "I was worried about Lee!" Gai shouted emotionally and began to hug the life out of the younger ninja.  
"G-Gah, I-I am fine, Gai-sensei." Lee explained as the older hugged him tighter and tighter.  
"I thought you died!" Gai said emotionally as he was pushed off by Lee.  
"Yeah, then we had to run around in that snowstorm looking for you." Tenten huffed.  
"I am sorry." Lee said to his teammates.  
Tsunade shook her head in response, "You don't have to be sorry, Lee." She said and looked over to Naruto.  
Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his head "Yeah, I'm sorry guys." The orange ninja said.  
Tsunade nodded in approval at this.  
Gai looked over to Naruto, now in full possession of his emotions, "It's alright, Naruto." he said with a nod, "It certainly was an exciting start to the day!"  
There was a collective sigh from the group.  
"What were you doing outside in the snowstorm anyway, Lee?" Neji asked.  
"Training." Lee said matter-of-factly with a nod. "It's harder, training in the wind and the snow." Lee added.  
"Oh, I see." Neji said, "I suppose it was a good test of my Byakugan as well." Neji nodded.  
"That's the spirit!" Gai cheered enthusiastically. "I think we should all get more winter training!" Gai added with all the more enthusiasm.  
"Seriously!?" Tenten asked, "But it's still so early." She complained.  
"It's something to get your blood pumping!" Gai said starting for the door, "Lee!"  
"Hai, Sensei!" Lee replied and followed after the older.  
"Let's take the route that you had just before."  
"Right!" Lee responded with robust.  
Neji and Tenten sighed and slowly followed after the two.  
Naruto groaned as he heard something about doing chores for the Hokage as the team exited.

************  
Gaara sighed as he pushed a pile of finished paperwork off to the side of his desk. There was a soft knock on the door and after Gaara gave the word a female attendant let herself in.  
"Kazekage-sama I have more paperwork for you to look over." she said as she approached the desk and set a mound of paper before Gaara.  
"...I see." The Kazekage murmured with a soft sigh.  
The attendant looked over the leader slowly, visibly seeing that the Kazekage was, at the moment, very over worked.  
"Perhaps you should take a break, Kazekage-sama." She suggested.  
"May I?" Gaara asked looking up from the pile paper to the attendant.  
"Of course you may." The attendant said with a smile. "You look like you could use a break." she said sympathetically.  
"Yeah?" Gaara murmured as he stood from his desk. Gaara walked slowly over to the door and wandered out into the hallway.  
Gaara was exhausted. Not only did Gaara have an unusual increase in paperwork to look over, but the temperatures had hit a record high in Suna one day after the other. What he wouldn't give for some snow.  
Deciding To get out and stretch his legs, Gaara went out into the village on a walk, keeping mainly to himself aside from greeting anyone who addressed him.  
As he continued walking, his attention was drawn to a pair of distraught looking leaf ninja. Reminded of the friends he has in the leaf, Gaara became worried himself, thinking that something had happened to them.  
Not wanting to see like an eavesdropper, Gaara slowed his pace and listened closely as he walked by them, taking a drink from his canteen in an attempt to look more casual.

"Did you hear about that terrible snow storm back in the leaf?" one of the Konoha ninja asked the other.

"Yeah, I heard that a lot of people were snowed in." The other replied.

"Snow..." Gaara thought as he approached a concession stand so he could remain within ear shot without looking suspicious.

"Welcome to," The concession girl began as she turned to the redhead, "-Oh! Kazekage-sama!" She gasped in surprise, "Hello! How may I help you?" She asked with a smile.

"Some water please." He responded, handing her his canteen.

"On it." She replied cheerily as she took the canteen.

Gaara nodded as he tooned back into the conversation going on behind him.

"I'm not sure where I would rather be stuck. Here in this record breaking heat, or back in the leaf in all the ice and snow." One complained.

"Snow. Definitely." Gaara thought, reminiscing about cooler, not record breaking high, temperatures.

"Oh! Did you hear that someone _died_ in that snowstorm?" One asked.

Gaara froze, immediately jumping to the conclusion that it was someone he knew.

"Oh no! Who was it?" one asked worriedly. They began to continue when the concessions girl tapped Gaara on the shoulder lightly. "Kazekage-sama?" She asked curiously, Gaara blinked and brought his focus back to the concessions girl, who was holding the canteen out to him.

"O-Oh, thank you." Gaara said taking it from her. He handed her some money and quickly brought his attention back to the conversation.

"Oooh! Ok. I get it." They said.

"Damn!" Gaara thought, knowing that he missed the name. He brought the canteen to his lips and slowly took a drinking, thinking about asking the two ninjas who the person was.

"So, who was it? Rock Lee, yeah?"

Gaara's eyes widened as he choked on his water, "L-Lee!?" he cried mentally, entering a panic attack.

The concessions girl looked at Gaara in horror, "K-Kazekage-sama! Are you ok?" She asked, frantic.

"I-I have to go." Gaara sputtered, coughing. The Red head tore off quickly from the concessions stand, leaving it in his dust as he raced for the exit of Suna.

"What a cruel joke to play!" one of the leaf ninja gasped, continuing their conversation about Rock Lee.

"I know! What if someone took it seriously!?" The other replied in agreement

The wind howled as another blustering gust threatened to blow the Kazekage over, leaving him as just another white lump amongst the endless fields of white.  
"This is terrible, I can hardly see in front of my face." Gaara through, shivers racking through him.  
When Gaara had left the sand village, he was confident that he would be able to navigate perfectly fine through the snowstorm. He'd been through plenty of sandstorms and as a matter of fact, he dealt with one almost effortlessly on his way through the desert. Gaara figured the two storms would be mostly the same, the only differences being snow, not sand and cold, not hot. What the sand ninja had forgotten in his state of panic was that navigating through sandstorms was easy for him because he could freely control the sand. He can do no such thing with snow. Gaara only realized this when he had reached the leaf village border. He had also just realized that he hadn't prepared in the slightest for the colder weather. The temperatures, which were well below freezing immediately going to work on crippling the Kazekage in his ill prepared state. But, driven by the idea that Lee lay somewhere dying, Gaara marched on.

Night was swiftly taking over the forest. Gaara continued to march on sightlessly, the snow and increasing lack of light leaving his eyes almost entirely without use. His whole body completely numb and the same warmth as the snow blowing mercilessly against him.

Despite the pain that filled him with each step, Gaara continued on, trying to keep himself walking straight, though he wouldn't know if he was, since the snow was blinding him. He could only hope. He only knew he was advancing because of the pain that would come with each sinking step into new snow. He set a rhythm for himself, to try and distract himself from the pain: Inhale...step...exhale while waiting for the pain to ease. Repeat.  
Gaara froze in place as his rhythm was offset, his foot hadn't sunk. He was sure that he had stepped forwards, but the snow was already pushed down. His heart sank as he fully realized what happened.  
"C-Circ-cles..." He stammered, "Been... going..." He murmured, his eyes drooping, "in...c-circles..." he said shakily. He dropped down face first into the snow as he legs and his body as a whole, gave up on him.  
"Gaara! Gaara!" Cried a voice in the distance. "Gaara!"

"I'm sorry..." Gaara thought tears springing to his eyes. "Lee..." he muttered as he drifted out of consciousness.

"No, Gaara! Stay with me!" the voice begged, "You cannot die!"

In the Konoha hospital, Lee sat looking down at the unconscious lump of blankets known as Gaara while a nurse went over the sand ninja's vitals. By some miracle, Rock Lee had stumbled upon the frozen Kage while training in the snow storm. With quick thinking and a miracle Lee managed to get Gaara medical attention before it was too late, but, Gaara still hadn't woken up yet.

"Is...Is he going to be alright?" Lee asked the nurse as she was on her way out.

The nurse looked at Lee, a slight frown on her face, "We think so, but we won't know for sure unless he wakes up." She explained  
"I see..." Lee said disheartenedly.  
As the nurse exited the room Lee got to his feet and looked down at the unconscious Kazekage. Gently, Lee reached down and rested his hand against the others cheek.

"You're still so cold..." Lee said with a frown. His frown deepened as he saw a shiver course through Gaara's body. "..."

After a moment of thought, Lee lifted up the layers of blankets and shifted himself into the bed next to the Kazekage. After laying the blankets on top of them, he wrapped his arms around Gaara slowly and snuggled up against him face to face in order to share his body heat. As soon as Lee situated himself comfortably alongside the sand ninja, as if on cue, a soft, muffled grunt came from the other.

"G-Gaara?" Lee asked looking down at him.  
"L...Lee...?" Gaara whispered in confusion. The Kazekage's eyes fluttered open slowly and looked up into the others curiously. "A...Am I d-dead too?" he asked a small frown forming on his face.  
Lee looked down at the red head worriedly for a moment, then after coming to a full understanding; Lee chuckled softly, earning a thoroughly confused look from the Kazekage.  
"No, of course we are not dead." Lee said with a smile. After taking a moment to explain the story to him, Gaara was almost in tears.  
Lee furrowed his brow, "Wh-why are you crying?" he asked worriedly, "Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry that this happened Gaara, If I'd have known-"  
"N-No," Gaara muttered, "I-I'm just s-so happy." He sniffled, tears streaming down his face.  
Lee smiled softly and slowly reached up to wipe the other's tears away, "I am happy too." Lee said warmly. Gaara smiled slightly through his tears and shivered slightly as a gust of wind rattled the hospital window.  
"You're still so cold." Lee mused, trying to think of a way to safely return Gaara to his normal body temperature.  
"Y-Yeah... I-" Gaara was cut off as his lips were brought into a gentle kiss from the elder. As Lee pulled back from the kiss, Gaara flushed a brilliant red.  
"L-L-Lee..." he stammered his blush only worsening.  
"That will help warm you up, now won't it?" Lee replied with a huge smile, a blush of his own dusting across his cheeks.  
"Lee..." Gaara said softly.

"You must rest now, Gaara-kun." Lee said while he ran his fingers through the Kazekage's hair gently. "I'll help keep you warm." he said with a soft smile.

"Th-thank you." Gaara murmured as he snuggled up close to him.

"Anything to help." Lee replied softly, watching as the red head slowly drifted to sleep.

"I think that I owe you one, Naruto." Gaara thought while looking down at the Kazekage's sleeping form. "Yes, I definitely owe you one."

_~AN: Did you like it? Do you think that I should continue this? Let me know~ :)_


End file.
